THE SOUL OF NATURE 167 



heated by the excitements and intemper- 

 ances of social life, to rest our nerves after 

 the jarring of coarse utilities. The repose 

 of the earth, the sky, and the waters is val- 

 uable, if only to show how much may be 

 told and done without fretting and without 

 speech ; and little of our talk is needed. 

 In politics alone, what words ! what fric- 

 tion ! what rivalry ! what hatred ! Suns, 

 and clouds of suns, wheel through space, 

 perhaps around some pivot of intelligence, 

 and make no sound ; but the choice of a 

 man to do a little work for us fills the land 

 with babbling and strife. Is not this much 

 ado about nothing to speak of enough to 

 drive a man to the woods, there to cast 

 about for facts and affections that are 

 worthy of him ? There he is among ob- 

 jects that are idyllic, or that, at least, do 

 not obtrude their functions. They are 

 notes in a harmony, colors in a prism; they 

 exist for an occult purpose which, in our 

 present development, we only and vaguely 

 recognize as beauty. Though we are apart 

 from them, they follow us, and their charm 

 is tender and alluring in their absence, be- 



